Ülgen Sarıkavak
Tech Co-Lead For Django Official Website Redesign (Volunteer) at Django Software Foundation
Istanbul, Türkiye Turkey
Summary
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Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolÜlgen Sarıkavak is a senior backend engineer with 11+ years of production experience specializing in Python/Django, FastAPI and scalable API design, who repeatedly helps startups move from MVP to funding while also improving reliability and developer experience in mid-to-late stage products. He focuses on automation—CI/CD, testing, monitoring—and reducing cognitive load for teams, with hands-on work optimizing API performance and modernizing legacy codebases. An active open-source maintainer, Ülgen contributes to prominent projects like graphene-django, django-extensions and Dependabot Core, ensuring compatibility across Python/Django versions and improving testing infrastructure. Beyond backend systems, he explores creative technology and developer tooling for TouchDesigner, blending generative storytelling with pragmatic Python workflows. Based in Istanbul, he volunteers as a DSF website working group member and tech co-lead for the Django site redesign, reflecting a commitment to community, inclusive contribution practices, and long-term platform health.
12 years of coding experience
7 years of employment as a software developer
BSc, Computer Science, BSc, Computer Science at University of Londongenerative narratives for change: code, typography, and storytelling in touchdesigner, generative narratives for change: code, typography, and storytelling in touchdesigner at School of Machines, Making & Make-BelieveTekirdağ Fen LisesiBachelor's degree, Economics, Bachelor's degree, Economics at Anadolu UniversityBachelor’s Degree, Physics Engineering, Bachelor’s Degree, Physics Engineering at Istanbul Technical University
English, Turkish
Stackoverflow
309reputation
41kreached
5answers
1question
Github Skills (28)
dependency-management10
pytest10
python10
apidoc10
django10
testing10
wpgraphql10
ruby10
api10
wordpress-graphql10
graphene10
version-control10
management10
graphql10
versioning10
Programming languages (21)
Github contributions (5)
graphql-python/graphene-django
Mar 2020 - Nov 2022
Build powerful, efficient, and flexible GraphQL APIs with seamless Django integration.
Role in this project:
Backend Developer
Backend DeveloperContributions:54 reviews, 17 commits, 38 PRs in 2 years 8 months
Contributions summary:Ülgen primarily contributed to the backend functionality and maintenance of the `graphene-django` project, which provides GraphQL integration for Django. Their work included upgrading dependencies, adding support for newer Python and Django versions, and refactoring code to be compatible with Python 3. Furthermore, the user addressed deprecation warnings, and made adjustments to testing utilities.
djangographql-apigraphenepythongraphql
django-extensions/django-extensions
Jan 2021 - Jun 2022
This is a repository for collecting global custom management extensions for the Django Framework.
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:16 reviews, 10 commits, 8 PRs in 1 year 4 months
Contributions summary:Ülgen primarily focused on maintaining and modernizing the Django Extensions project. Their commits involved removing support for deprecated Python and Django versions, ensuring compatibility with newer versions and removing legacy testing conditions. The contributions streamlined the project's codebase, improved testing, and aligned it with current Python and Django ecosystems. They also updated the project's Python and Django classifiers.
django-framework
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